The global campaign to free three members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot is coming to Toronto, and it’s attracting some unlikely supporters.

Until this week, Lynn Flatley had never organized a rally. But the story of three women who have been in jail for more than five months because of an anti-Vladimir Putin prank in Moscow’s main cathedral changed that.

The former equity researcher on Bay Street for 25 years, now a social media manager, was so “outraged and hurt” by the story, she decided to protest.

“I thought that it would just be my son and I, and maybe I would make my husband come,” she said.

But the event she planned for Friday at noon outside the Russian Consulate at Bloor and Church streets is quickly gaining ground. On Wednesday morning it had fewer than 150 guests on Facebook, but by late afternoon had more than 250 confirmed guests and nearly 1,600 invitees.

Similar rallies in more than 40 cities worldwide will be held on Friday, the day a Russian court will rule on whether the three band members will be sent to prison.

In a performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich shouted the words of a “punk prayer” asking the Virgin Mary to deliver Russia from Putin, who was set to win a third term in a March presidential election.

They were arrested on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

Musicians worldwide have expressed support for the women and the U.S. State Department has repeatedly expressed its concern. Last week, France’s Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti issued a statement expressing concern that artistic freedom was on trial.

Flatley has strong memories of the G20 summit in Toronto in June 2010, which one of the reasons the Pussy Riot trial hits home, she said.

“It’s an issue that’s important to Torontonians and Canadians as well, because it can happen here; it has happened here — just an extreme response to a peaceful protest,” she said. “We’ve got a stake in this.”

Helping Flatley is her son Andrew, 13, who has volunteered for political campaigns and last year attended City View, an alternative school with a focus on social justice. On Friday, he will be ready to speak into the megaphone if his mother gets crowd-shy.

Flatley has been making balaclavas — a signature garment for the punk group — out of old sweaters, she said. She’s paying for materials out-of-pocket, she said.

“The Dollar Store loves me now,” she said with a laugh. She has received some support, though: a local button-maker will donate “Pussy Riot” buttons to distribute among the crowd.

The Facebook page markets the rally as a peaceful protest featuring handmade posters, chants and leaflets. Participants will be invited to speak about why the issue is important to them.

Activists in Moscow are expected to take to the streets at 2 p.m., an hour before the judge is to issue a verdict in the trial that began on July 30. But by noon, when the Toronto rally starts, the verdict will have already been delivered.

“It will either be a celebration or a continued protest,” Flatley said.